1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to data processing and in particular to a data processing system, method and program product that utilize a hierarchical framework to model and manage an environment containing a collection of items.
2. Description of the Related Art
Affordable technology, and in particular the availability of powerful, commercially affordable computer systems and associated data storage, has revolutionized business practices and management over the preceding decades. This revolution has led to the development of software tools to manage and monitor data regarding all aspects of a business, including facility management, financial services (e.g., finance, accounting, and payroll), human resources, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Product Distribution Management (PDM). It is typical for large corporations to license or internally develop one or more business software tools to perform these general business functions, as well as additional engineering, manufacturing, or other industry-specific software tools to provide functionality related to the specific lines of business of the corporation.
The variety of available software tools and the independent adoption of various software tools by various business units of a corporation can result in the corporation utilizing an amalgam of incompatible applications that utilize numerous diverse databases. As a consequence of the adoption of incompatible software tools and data formats, the flow of information between corporate departments is hampered. In addition, inefficiency and data errors may result from entering and/or modifying the same data in the multiple different databases utilized by the various software tools. From a financial perspective, the adoption of multiple diverse software tools results in a high cost of ownership due to the small number of users supported by each individual software tool.
In response to these issues, some commercial software vendors have developed software platforms that are intended as a complete solution to corporate software needs. Such platforms are designed to support a number of business functions (e.g., ERP, SCM, CRM, etc.) and to permit data sharing between business units. Although powerful, such platforms often require skilled users having significant training and do not address the need to have a graphical and intuitive interface that permits users having little training to efficiently utilize the software.